The mornings are dark again, and the first customer of the day arrives in a scarf. From this week both dishes have their own corner of the board, written in Ade's handwriting because ours is worse.
Syrniki, by Maksim
Syrniki are small Belarusian pancakes made from tvarog, a fresh curd cheese, with an egg, a spoon of flour and a little sugar. I fry them in butter until they are brown outside and soft inside, and serve them with sour cream and jam.
The recipe is my mother's. Alena wrote it out by hand on her last visit and corrected my first three batches in person. I make 60 each Saturday and Sunday morning, and they cost 6.50 euros for three. The jam changes with the season, and this autumn it is blackcurrant from a stall at the Dappermarkt.
Tortilla, by Inés
I make one tortilla de patatas every weekday morning before the doors open: eight eggs, a kilo of potatoes, one onion, cooked slowly in olive oil. It sells by the slice at 4.50 euros, warm until about 10:00 and at room temperature after that, which is how Spain eats it anyway.
The onion is not up for debate. Spain argues about it endlessly. In our kitchen the argument was settled on the first morning, in Aragonese, and Maksim lost.
These are the two dishes we cook when we miss home.
Also new this autumn
Joris at Bakkerij De Vos, two doors down, has added a pear and rye bun to his cardamom buns. He brings them over warm at 7:15 and still tells us the filter is too sour while he drinks it.
After the kettle post in July, we put the samovar out on two Sundays to see what would happen. Many of you asked us under that post to keep it. So from now on there is loose-leaf tea from the urn every Sunday, poured the way Halina, the grandmother behind our kettle, poured it.
The next two kitchens supper, one Belarusian dish and one Aragonese, is on Friday 6 November. It costs 28 euros, and booking opens at the bar on Thursday 1 October. The last three sold out in a day, so set a reminder.
Come on Saturday before 11:00 for the syrniki. After that, you will have to take our word for them.
Inés and Maksim
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